Notwithstanding their intrinsically ascribed cognitive capabilities and exalted epithets, humankind — the crown of creation — lacks an inherent compass for living a mutually productive life. This absence has, for millennia, compelled humans to explore, evolve and deduce frameworks to distinguish between good and bad, right and wrong, and productive and unproductive choices, thereby giving rise to moral codes and notions of dos and don'ts.

Morality — rooted in and influenced by biological, personal, religious, spiritual, cultural and philosophical inquiries, including consequentialism, deontology and virtue ethics — serves to define right and wrong and, if acted upon, helps establish a just, collaborative and inclusive society operating on a normative standard of truth. Based on their relationship with and practice of morality in different contexts, societies tend to either conform to, openly defy or exploit moral principles, or engage in all three to varying degrees.

Societies that genuinely conform to morality invariably and holistically reap the best........

© The Express Tribune